Sweeping Aside the Living at Luxor to Resurrect the Dead
Luxor is in the process of creating an open-air museum on the city’s west bank, where a third of the world’s archeological sites are located, including such renowned monuments as Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple and the Valley of the Kings.
The project is part of an overall endeavor to make Luxor a modern tourist site, where they will be alone with the ancient structures. It will cost the Egyptian government 1.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($200 million) for all renovations, including restructuring the famed temples of Karnak and Luxor in the east bank as well as creating a new bazaar for shopping opportunities.
Not everyone is pleased with the makeover, though. Thousands of people will be forced out of their homes for the open-air museum project. The idea of recreating the ancient past in a manner identical to the Pharaoh’s is inspiring, even bold. But residents of the Luxor area hope that in the process the government will remember that contemporary Egyptians are also important.
Comments
Leave a Reply
